Chapter 7 – Her Funeral (1)
Previously, after becoming a movie Goddess, Lan Jinyao hadn't only bought a car and a house, but she'd also bought a plot of land in a cemetery.
In this bustling city known as B City, the price of living was high, and the cost of land was extremely expensive. When Lan Jinyao had asked her Manager, Li Qi, to buy a plot of land in a cemetery, Li Qi had stared at her like he was looking at a mental person. He was clearly stumped as to why such a young person was already concerned about their death. Did she suffer from depression or something? He thought that Lan Jinyao should find a day to visit a psychiatrist and get examined.
In reality, Lan Jinyao had bought the plot of land in a cemetery as a completely precautionary measure. At the time, the answer that she'd given her Manager was that you never knew if an accident or tomorrow would occur first.
So, true to her word, Lan Jinyao had purchased a plot of land in a cemetery. A month later, just after she'd finished all the formalities and paid for everything, she'd fallen from Blue Hall Entertainment's office building. Anyone would feel dizzy standing on the edge of the twenty-something storey building, let alone fear falling.
Lan Jinyao would always remember how she'd felt in those few shorts moments as she'd fallen from the peak of the building. Her heart would feel constricted, and her pupils would dilate in terror. As for what she'd felt when she hit the ground, she luckily the didn't remember much. At that time, she reckoned that she'd been reduced to nothing but a pool of blood.
At eight o'clock in the morning, in a dimly lit room, a thick pair of curtains were open to allow a warm beam of sunlight to spill through the window and illuminate every corner of the room. Lan Jinyao was currently sitting on the plush carpet, a sheet of paper in each of her hands. One was Chen Meimei's schedule, and other was Fu Bainian's itinerary.
Glancing at the papers and comparing the two, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Just how fond of Fu Bainian was Chen Meimei?! Her schedule is completely based on Fu Bainian's itinerary. No wonder I'm able to meet him wherever I go!"
The first agenda on Chen Meimei's schedule was running followed by swimming, with notes detailing what time Fu Bainian would be at the pool, and which route he would take. Looking at all the information before her, it appeared that this young lady had been utterly corrupted and that her notoriety was deeply rooted in people's hearts. It seemed that her hopes of salvaging her reputation in a short time would be out of the question.
Lan Jinyao drew in a deep breath before trying to comfort herself. "It doesn't matter; I'll just take it slowly. With time, everything will be revealed."
As she continued looking through the schedule, she noticed a messily scrawled note that Chen Meimei had added to the last column: Attend that troublesome Lan Jinyao's funeral at 8 AM on the weekend.
When the name 'Lan Jinyao' entered her sight without warning, she was stunned.
Her funeral…
Her hands were slightly trembling as they held the papers.
Right, she was already dead. Lan Jinyao no longer existed.
The past few days, after being discharged from the hospital, she'd been striving hard to live well in this fat body. If no one reminded her, she would have to constantly shout at her reflection 'Chen Meimei, Chen Meimei…' or else, she felt that she would forget that she wasn't Lan Jinyao anymore.
She was obviously still living in this world, yet her body was already decaying. Lan Jinyao felt somewhat numb inside, as if, even if her heart was pricked; it wouldn't hurt, just feel uncomfortable.
At that moment, it was like she was awakened from a beautiful dream, and all that she could see was the word 'funeral'. An immense sorrow weighed down her heart, making it difficult for her to breathe from the pressure.
"I'm dead, yet I'm still alive. Haha…"
One by one, tears slid down her plump cheeks, soaking the papers in her hands. Lan Jinyao stared at the road outside the window; the bright scenery blurring before her eyes.
The funeral was on Sunday, and today was already Saturday. Since it was her funeral, she wanted to go and see it. After all, no one was more qualified than herself to attend.
In Lan Jinyao's private break room, the gifts and letters piled up on the sofa had been removed, and a couple of staff members were entering with pieces of white cloth. They methodically used the pieces of white cloth to cover the sofa, table and chairs. Then, once a piece of white cloth covered everything in the room, they left, closing the door behind them.
In the hallway, the staff members spotted two women heading in their direction. So, stopping, they respectfully called out, "Sis Shen!"
The woman leading the pair was wearing a long blue skirt, and a hand-embroidered t-shirt; she gave off a kind of seductive feeling of freshness. She faintly responded and asked, "This room used to be Jinyao's. What will it be used for in the future?"
One of the staff members replied, "It'll be locked up. This room won't be used anymore!"
Wasting a private break room on a dead person? It must be known that there were a lot of artists in the company, and most of them shared a room. Shen Wei'an was surprised, but her face remained calm.
She waited a moment before she asked, "Why is that? Was it Director Shen's idea?"
In this company, only Shen Yu had treated Lan Jinyao so well. She was dead now, and no longer able to be of worth to the company. Yet, they were preserving a room just for her?
She was somewhat angry, so her tone rose a bit when she spoke.
The two staff members glanced at each other but didn't answer directly. Instead, they said, "It was an order that came from above."
In such a large company, there were more than a dozen senior leaders; to say that it was an order from above was ambiguous. However, Shen Wei'an was confident that it was Shen Yu's idea. Momentarily, her complexion turned somewhat unsightly.
Unexpectedly, her Assistant Xiao Ding was angrier than her and cursed on the spot, "Sis Shen, Lan Jinyao wasn't capable of anything except for one thing, and that was winning people's hearts. Even Director Shen was charmed by her. Otherwise, why would he do something like this? If President Fu found out, then Director Shen would certainly have to face the consequences."
Shen Wei'an didn't answer, and instead, she turned around and left, her high heels clicking in her wake. Behind her, Xiao Ding hurriedly followed to keep up.
The two staff members watched as they left before whispering, "What do you think about Shen Wei'an? If Lan Jinyao hadn't died, would there even be a position for her on the 12th floor? Just based on her attitude, she wouldn't be able to get there even if she knocked her head against a brick wall. Lan Jinyao died unexpectedly, and Shen Wei'an was the closest to her before her death, yet Shen Wei'an couldn't wait to step on her and immediately climb up. Fortunately, she's unaware that our President Fu has been pay attention to this matter because, if she knew, it would be disastrous. She's taking advantage of the fact that she was Lan Jinyao's closest friend to get close to our Director Shen."
The other person shook her head and retorted, "That's wrong. Even if she hadn't used Lan Jinyao, do you think that she wouldn't be able to climb up? Shen Wei'an is a rather shrewd woman! A few days ago, at the meeting venue, didn't she try to seduce a certain Director, but was instead angered to the point of wanting to commit suicide by jumping off the building?!"
"Yes yes, Sis' analysis is right! Sigh, us women shouldn't be like Lan Jinyao, living such a short life. But, we also can't be like Shen Wei'an, living such a lowlife!"
The two people noisily laughed as they stepped into the elevator.
In the corner of the corridor, a woman was tightly clenching her hands into fists; her complexion white from anger.
Xiao Ding quickly patted her back to appease her anger, and comforted, "Sis Shen, don't listen to those people, what do they know anyway? How dare they say that there wasn't anything fishy going on between Lan Jinyao and Director Shen?!"
As soon as those words were said, Shen Wei'an raised her hand and slapped her. The slap wasn't too heavy, but it still caused the little Assistant to blank out for a moment.
"In the future, I don't want to hear the names Lan Jinyao and Shen Yu coming from your mouth at the same time!"
Shen Wei'an towered over the Assistant and spoke again, "I want you to arrange for me to attend Lan Jinyao's funeral this weekend. Additionally, arrange for some reporters to be there!"
"Yes!"